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<title>i've tasted blood and it is sweet by VibrantVenus</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23070565">i've tasted blood and it is sweet</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/VibrantVenus/pseuds/VibrantVenus'>VibrantVenus</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stranger Things (TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blood and Violence, Canon-Typical Violence, Episode: s02e07 The Lost Sister, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Good Parent Joyce Byers, Joyce byers is a great mom and you can pry her from my cold dead fingers, Kali deserves better you cowards, Kidnapping, nightmare by halsey, title is from a song</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 09:01:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>669</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23070565</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/VibrantVenus/pseuds/VibrantVenus</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>and Kali? Kali thinks maybe she's always been angry. Her knuckles always bruised and bloodied.<br/>(You have piano fingers, she's told.)</p><p>Or, the one where Kali finds a home.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eleven | Jane Hopper &amp; Kali Prasad, Joyce Byers &amp; Kali Prasad, Robin Buckley/Kali Prasad</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>i've tasted blood and it is sweet</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>   Kali has been angry for a very long time. It's what's kept her alive this long. She doesn't have much experience with sadness. <em>(R</em><em>eturning to the rainbow room, only to find Jane gone, it had hurt, had killed her, had buried Kali alive-)</em></p><p>Watching Jane leave almost kills her a second time. Tears open a years old wound that had mostly healed over. She holds her illusions, tries to stifle her screams. Tries to pretend her heart isn't half broken at losing Jane <em>again </em>and-</p><p>
  <em>   "They cannot save you, Jane."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>   "No. But I can save them."</em>
</p><p>For a long time now her home has been people. Has been the blood on her hands and the camaraderie amongst her group. Has been the hazy memories of Jane, tiny little Jane, too small and scared.</p><p>   On bad nights, she remembers walking home, the hands that had grabbed her off the sidewalk, harsh fingers digging into her ribs. Her little heart beating too fast. (She'd been sure she was going to die in that van. Sometimes she thinks she did.)</p><p>   On worse nights she thinks of her parents. These are things she remembers most distinctly: Her mother had played the piano, had seen little Kali staring up at her in wonder, had pulled her onto her lap, placed her fingers along the keys.</p><p>   <em>"You have piano fingers Kali."</em></p><p>Whatever kind of fingers she has- had, it doesn't matter. The only thing her hands are good for now, she thinks with a feeling close to sadness, is death. Is the illusions she pulls from the nightmares, the nightmares she can bring to life.</p><p>   <em>(She tries not to think of the beauty that hides beneath her fingertips. That her power doesn't have to hurt. The butterfly, shimmering blue and purple.)</em></p><p> </p><p>   Time passes. Nearly a year later and she hears about an explosion at some mall in the middle of nowhere. Something inside of her shudders, and she knows that it's Jane. Like a missing limb that she can still just barely feel.</p><p>   The wound is still raw.</p><p>   She takes the first bus she can reach to Hawkins, Indiana.</p><p> </p><p>   She walks until her feet hurt, stops to rest only for brief moments. There is a tether, she thinks. A rope that binds her to Jane, that pulls her ever closer.</p><p>   She finds herself at a house. There's a car, two bikes. She walks up to the door, stops.</p><p>   What if Jane didn't want to see her?</p><p>   She hadn't-she hadn't thought about that. Hadn't really thought about much except getting to her sister. She's preparing to turn, to leave, when the door opens. It's a woman, her face is tired, but her eyes-they're kind. She seems startled to see Kali.</p><p>   "Oh! Hello, how can I help you?"</p><p>   Kali can feel the kindness radiating out of this woman, can feel the deep never ending sadness that follows it.</p><p>   "I'm-I'm here for Jane."</p><p>   With this the woman shifts, an almost imperceptible distrust in the downturn of her lips.</p><p>   "What for?"</p><p>   And Kali-Kali has never felt like this. This deep need to-to explain herself. To be understood. She rolls up her sleeve, shows this woman, this sad, sad woman the numbers tattooed into her skin.</p><p>   <strong>008</strong></p><p>The woman's eyes soften, slow hands reaching for her to gently pull her into the house. Kali lets herself be lead to the back of the house, to a bedroom.</p><p>   "She's in there."</p><p>   For a moment, Kali can see her own mother looking back at her from this stranger's eyes. In the gentle touch of her hand, and the soft lines of her face.</p><p>   She opens the door and-</p><p>   There she is. Her hair is longer, and there's a fullness to her face, indicative of her safety. Jane looks up, standing just as quickly, rushing into Kali's arm.</p><p>   "Kali, Kali, Kali Kali-"</p><p>   She feels the tears wetting her shoulder, the desperate grip of Jane's fingers. She hugs her back just as tightly, two puzzle pieces clicking back into place.</p><p>   Sisters-reunited once more.</p>
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